Learning About Plants

We've finally started October's Mother Goose Time theme of orchard harvest.  The first week was spent learning about parts of a plant:  seeds, leaves, trunks, etc.  

With every new month comes a new theme poster.  The kids get to take turns finding the objects on the look and find glasses and following the prompts on the back.  

On the first day of every monthly theme the kids get new name tags and practice either writing or tracing their names.

When learning about seeds the kids made apples out of paper plates and added bean seeds to their paintings.  

They also played an apple matching game and practiced taking turns and waiting patiently.

The kids always love when play dough is involved in a lesson.  They liked making different plants.

Trunks

The girls had so much fun with day 3's Mother Goose Time topic, trunks.

They started off by using paper strips to make a rectangle trunk, and then we looked at the shape of the month.  

We sang Shake Your Trunk while the girls acted out the song.  Every month Mother Goose Time provides a song or finger play activity for every day that come on cards you can clip together.

The girls used the pattern blocks that were provided this month to make their own designs and then used the shape mats to make specific pictures.  

I read the girls the Honest George story.  We talked about what it meas to be honest and the girls each got an honesty bee badge.  We added the big bee to our circle time display.

 The girls looked at a photo of a tree trunk and then used paper to make their own model.  After they were done they drew their own tree trunk cross sections.

We talked about what animals live in tree trunks.  The girls watched a cute video of an ermine hiding in a tree.  You can see it here.  After, they made their own tree trunks and stick animals to play with.

Elli wound up going down for a nap while Addie worked on her more math and reading books.

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Learning About Seeds

On Monday we started a new theme with Mother Goose Time.  This month's topics will all be part of in the orchard.  The girls loved the growing gardens theme we did earlier in the year, so I know they'll love this one.

We started by going on a walk and looking at and collecting different kinds of seeds.  We found seeds from lupines, goldenrod, dandelion, 3 types of grass, thistles, oak trees, and pine trees.  

The girls looked at the different types of seeds with magnifying glasses.

 Then we cut up an apple and sorted the seeds onto the provided number mat.  The apples made a good snack when we were done.

The girls looked at the provided seed collection and used them to build the hands on letters.

They practiced writing their names on their monthly name tags.

They worked on their fine motor skills by using tweezers to pick up the seeds and sort them into mini pie pans.

The girls loved making their apple craft.  They cut a paper plate to resemble a core and used the leftover pieces to make leaves.  They glued the corresponding number of seeds as their age on the inside.

Addie completed her more math and reading workbooks and we read some books about seeds.

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Roots

 Today Mother Goose Time had us learning about roots.  Roots deliver nutrients to plants.  Some plants, like moss, have tiny roots.  Other plants, like trees, have huge roots.  We set out to explore and see what kinds of roots we could find.  We wound up collecting moss, dandelions, and some other plants to look at.

First we looked at a birch tree root.

Addie studied a dandelion root.

Elli was more interested in the woolly bear.

We came inside and read Lettuce Turnip the Beet!  It's the provided book this month and it was filled with jokes about produce.  Addie thought it was funny and Elli liked counting the food on each page.

We looked at the letter Y card set and talked about yams.  The girls didn't know what a yam was, but Addie correctly guessed they grow underground.  They took turns searching for and then digging up a yam that I hid.

Then they made their own yams by gluing pulled apart yarn onto their yam shapes.  It was suggested that they also glue dirt on them, but Addie said her yam had been cleaned and was ready to eat.

The girls also looked at roots some more, and traced them on paper.

The girls completed the y page of their My Little Journal.  They drew the letter y and then added yam fingerprints to the top of the y, giving it roots.

We talked about how water moves through a plant and used the discove science card for an experiment to better illustrate how roots work.  To do this at home just fill 2 clear cups with water and add different food coloring to each.  Put an empty cup in the middle.  twist 2 paper towels and stick 1 end in the empty cup and 1 end in the cup with food coloring.  After a few minutes the water travels up the paper towel and mixes in the empty cup.  Addie thought the experiment was really neat and asked if we can do it again tomorrow.  Elli liked mixing the colored water with her carrot.

We also read a couple books about gardens and Addie completed her more math and reading workbooks.

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Sun and Water

Every day we start off our Mother Goose Time lesson with circle time.  The girls put up the date and pick the weather out.  Then I put up the daily picture and we talk about the topic question.  Today's was "How do you think sunshine helps plants grows?"  We talked about how plants need sun and water to live.

We talked about plants and looked at some potted plants and an assortment of fruits and vegetables.  We talked about how you can eat different parts of plants (seeds, bulbs, roots, leaves, stems and flowers) and the girls separated their food onto their plant placemat.  Then they ate some of it as a snack.

Next the girls checked on their grass seed, which sprouted this morning, and recorded their results on their tracking sheet. 

The girls looked outside at plants that grow in the shade versus the sun and drew a picture on the cover of this months my little journal. 

Next it was time to get up and moving. The girls would pick a number card and take the appropriate number of steps to either the sun or raindrop we use in circle time.  If they didn't make it all the way to the rain they would pretend to shrivel up from having too much sun.  If they didn't get to the sun they would pretend to float away in water.

shriveled up from too much sun

After that we talked about how people, just like plants, need water to survive.  Preschoolers generally need 6 glasses of water a day. We measured it out and they couldn't believe how much water they need.

Whoa, that's a lot of water

Better start drinking

Addie worked on her more math and reading workbooks while Elli sorted blue and yellow shapes and worked on counting.

We ended the day by reading some books about plants.

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